Fresh rail strike planned for next week

A fresh rail strike due to affect services across Sussex has been called for next Tuesday (June 21).

Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs the Southern and Thameslink franchises, has been embroiled in a row with union RMT over the future role of conductors for the several months.

Since the dispute started high levels of staff sickness have led to widespread cancellations on a daily basis.

The rail operator confirmed today that the RMT plans a fresh walkout next Tuesday following similar days of industrial action in April and May.

Southern tweeted: “We’ve have been notified that RMT Union plan to take further strike action on Tuesday 21 June. We’ll provide more details when we have them.”

A spokesman for Southern said: “We continue to urge the RMT to engage with us and avert these completely unnecessary strikes.

“However should the strike go ahead it will have a significant effect on Southern services on the whole of the day affected, with no service on many routes and only a limited service between approximately 07.30 and 18.00 on others, though we will extend the services hours if we are able.”

They added: “Gatwick Express and Thameslink services will be largely unaffected by the strike but some services are expected to be extremely busy on these days and some Gatwick Express trains will be unable to call at certain stations, so please allow more time for your journey.”